St Peter’s Church, Maidenhead
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What's going on
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New Wine Leadership Conference
The leadership team went away to Harrogate for the New Wine Leadership Conference at the end of April. It was a good time with teaching and worship, as well as the opportunity to spent some quality time together.
A report by BBC Nottingham on a healing from the New Wine conference can be found here:
Church Weekend Away
"A great time away to relax and get to know other church members better"
"It felt like we as a church were a plant that had been suddenly watered after a long time without, and have started to pick up our heads, as plants do when they drink"
"Space to reconnect with God and listen to Him"
Fi's baptism
Lots of family and friends came to watch this special event, and Fi declared her faith publicly, speaking about some of the things God has been doing in her life.
The church was decorated pink for the day, and people joined in a bring and share lunch after the service to celebrate the occasion.
(find more of Fi's story in People's Stories)
The Youth Big Sleep and Famine Well some people thought we were mad I’m sure, after all this wasn’t a weekend full of creature comforts – no food, sleeping rough and a distinct lack of sleep were on the agenda for a start! But when Q told me what some of the young people were planning to do one weekend, to be honest I jumped at the chance to be one of the leaders involved! World Vision has run a 24 hour famine for many years and this year the money to be raised was going to street children in And this year the event had a bit of a twist to it. Not only were we going to be enduring lack of food, but we were going to be sleeping rough outside the front of St P’s overnight, in an attempt to get some idea of what it is like for the children who do this every night. We spent some time making our cardboard box ‘houses’ (some were more artistic than others – mine fell apart half way through the night, oh well) and then transported them out to the front of church. It was quite a sight to see about 30 boxes lining the tarmac. What with an oil drum burning through the night and a couple of security men, we were all set for our, rather chilly, night. Unsurprisingly we were all a little jaded in the morning and were up with the sunshine sometime around 6am, but of course with no breakfast to be had, we all spent a little time warming up around the oil drum and some of us (but not all – you know who you are…..) changed our clothes. We then spent some time creating games out of junk – something else that children who are living on the streets do to pass the time. Actually some of the games were quite good – it’s amazing what you can do with a bit of bubble wrap and a ball! Later on we set up a carwash which was well attended, particularly by the parents of the young people. This went on for a couple of hours and added to our sponsorship by £326! Not bad, and I certainly remained drier than a lot of the young people…….. In the afternoon there was a firewood walk – for the oil drum J - and it was with great relief that everyone returned before the downpour of rain that began late afternoon and continued throughout the evening and the night. By then everyone was eagerly anticipating the much-awaited ‘mexican feast’ which was being prepared as an end to our famine and much thanks should go to Rosalie who, I think, was cooking most of the day to feed us lot! Needless to say that there was not a lot of food left at the end of the meal. With the sponsorship money, the carwash and collection we were able to split £4500 between World Vision and Street Kids Direct. I had a fantastic time and would do it again in a heartbeat. It was a weekend filled with enthusiasm, laughter and hard work, all in aid of bringing something of God’s love to children on the other side of the world. Quiz Night
The church was full as fourteen teams of eight settled down to the 2008 Quiz Night on Saturday night. The teams varied in age from junior school children to their grand parents, each keen to do their best. The quiz featured its usual “touchy feely” round, which this year challenged the teams to identify ten different seeds from well known fruits, like apples and oranges. They also had to find the animal in the title of pieces of music and answer more ordinary questions on news, There was a constant buzz of conversation as people competed in a friendly fashion.
It was very close in the end with the top three teams being separated by one point.
Rev Mark Balfour thanked the organisers for another very enjoyable evening and hoped to see everyone at next year’s quiz. He encouraged people to come to future similar events that will be held in St Peter’s Church during the coming year.
Ladies New Year Dinner
Hazel said that this was the first time that they had cooked a complete meal for so many in the church, and it was quite a juggling act with five different ovens being used. She and Debbie want to thank Jean and Sally for lending ovens and roasting potatoes, Chris for help with vegetables, Margaret MC for delightful flower- arrangements, and, the end-of-party volunteers who took home dirty crocks. She described it as a good piece of team-work. For the guests, it was a great evening, with a delicious meal, a fun quiz, and a special opportunity to chat to one another.
Confirmation Members of ID, along with Mark, Ben and Cat, were privileged to take part in Andy's confirmation service at All Saints Church in Maidenhead. We were grateful for the welcome given to us by Jeremy and the congregation there, and enjoyed watching Andy taking this significant step of confirming his faith. Bishop Stephen Cotterell gave a passionate Gospel message, and even stayed around at the end for some photos!
Find Andy's testimony in People's Stories
Superheroes Party! The end of October has become something of a party time and at St Peter's we love parties!! 1st November for the church has been traditionally when the church remembered Christians throughout history, and is called All Saints Day. So on 31st October, All Hallows Eve, we held two "Super Heroes" parties for children. The under 7's had a great time playing traditional party games with their parents. They heard how a young lad called David, was one of God's "Super Heroes". At 6pm the older children came dressed up to play games, and hear how a man called Saul was changed when Jesus spoke to him on a journey.
Pizza and hot dogs followed, with apple bobbing and pumpkin carving to end the party. They look like they all enjoyed themselves!!
Glen & Janet's last Sunday
A bring and share lunch was held on Sunday 15th September after church, to say goodbye to Glen and Janet Binns and their family, and wish them well as they move to Slough for Janet's new job.
New Wine 2007 The cows and sheep were kicked out of their homes (unfortunatly spiders weren't included in this exile) and 10,000 crazy Christians moved in to spend 7 days among the cowpat for a week of worship, prayer and teaching... not to mention fun and sun :)
Discussion was plentiful in the St Peters camp, ranging from the more meaningful to the many "did i say that out loud?" moments. We managed to break the world record for 'the number of cups of tea drank in 7 days'... tea will evermore be associated with cowpat...oops i mean the great outdoors...
If you weren't there this year then make sure you book for next year cos New Wine is not just holidaying, it's life changing!
Holiday Club
Wastewatchers was the Holiday Club for children at the beginning of the Summer holidays - this has been a new venture organised by Debbie, and provided an enjoyable week for the children who came along.  
The theme of the week was God's creation - the porch of church was even transformed into the 'darkness before creation', and gradually over the week, more and more plants appeared around (you may have noticed the flower area outside church now!) Many other activities took place, including face painting, t-shirt printing, making crosses out of recycled materials, and there were loads of games. The children were in teams - spiders, snails, bees and beetles - the nature theme coninued when a snake was brought in on the last day...!
Parish bbq
Sunday 8th July was our annual parish barbecue, and
Around 90 people turned up to enjoy Glen and Alan's barbecueing (along with the top secret bbq sauce recipe!) and we spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun, chatting and playing games.
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On Sunday 30th March, Fi Sweeney was baptised (by full immersion!) at St. Peter's Church, thanks to a portable baptistry. 
geography, and the usual types of round. As always the fish and chip supper was excellent.
Fifty ladies gathered at St. Peter's for the Ladies' New Year dinner on Thursday, January 3rd. Hazel Cronbach and Debbie Watson took it on board, and, with lots of help from various sources, put on a wonderful meal, which included drinks, broccoli and stilton soup, salmon, roast beef and vegetables, and a range of mouth-watering sweets. Willing and smiling helpers were Charlotte and Jamie, colleagues of Hazel's, Stephen and Tim, and Jeremy. They were brilliant. 
We were privileged to host Jo Gambi for our most recent 
